"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."
John 14:6
V I C E N Z A
Before Bethany had to return back to the states, we made an impromptu visit to Vicenza! Eric and I thought it was important for her to experience what it would be like going outside of Florence to work with a congregation. It also turned out that Jodi was very interested in visiting Vicenza in hopes of transferring there. So all things considered, we decided to make a day trip up to Vicenza on the 18th :)
Downtown Vicenza.
Francesca, Anna, and Beatrice
We were greeted by these sweet girlies! They spent the entire day with us walking around VIcenza.
Nicoletta and me
Nicoletta is a member of the church in Vicenza. Whenever we come to visit, she always makes sure to welcome us with open arms .
Rocco and Eric
( Rocco is Francesa and Beatrice's younger brother )
We stopped for lunch at a small bistro where the kids normally go after school.
Bethany, Francesca, Beatrice, Anna, Jodi, Nicoletta, and Miriam.
Afterwards we strolled through the chocolate festival downtown Vicenza. It was great to visit with the girls and to witness Jodi fitting right in with them as well. She had already met them for the first time earlier this summer when they came to the Bible School for the youth retreat.
Miriam, Francesco, Lorenza, Eric, Betahny, Jodi, me, Francesca, Beatrice, and Anna
Before we left that evening, we ordered some pizzas and ate together at the Fergnani's home. Jodi spoke with Francesco about the possibility of transferring there and ways that she could assist the work in Vicenza. We have planned another trip for the end of this month so that Jodi can meet the congregation and get a better idea of what her role would look like there. We are so thankful for the Fergnani family and for their hearts. Its always a joy to be able to spend time together.
We returned back to the Bible school late that evening . The next morning, the Nunez family come to stay at the Bible school, they are friends of Robbie Shackelford ( the HUF director) . They stayed for a week in the apartment across from ours in the Bible School. Then, the next Saturday (25th) Ryan and Paula Butterfield arrived to stay . The Butterfields are former AI workers and directors. We didnt get to greet them until that following Monday due to . . . our visit to Taranto!
* Interesting Bible School Fact #1:
many of you may not know this but the Bible school not only serves as a school where Italians come to learn english through the Bible, but it also serves as a mini "bed and breakfast" of sorts. Throughout the year, we have several families, couples, singles, college groups, baseball teams ( you name it! ), who come to stay at the Bible School for various amounts of time. This is good for the Bible School in that it allows us to make many contacts. It also is just another aspect of our work here. when we have guests, we like to make sure they are comfortable, rooms are clean, and they have a good sense of coming and going in Florence.
T A R A N T O
FRIDAY
Meredith and the mini van
We left for Taranto bright and early Friday October 24th. Eric and I are still waiting on some documents from the USA until we are legally able to purchase any type of vehicle in Italy. Therefore, in order to visit Taranto, we rented this really snazzy 7 person mini van to drive down to Puglia!
Massafra, Italy
It was about an 8 hour drive down to Taranto in the mini van. It was interesting to watch the tuscan landscape transform into the white stone buildings of Puglia.
We made about 3 stops on the way down and arrived in Taranto around 4pm that afternoon!
Me and Fabrizio.
Our first order of business was to meet Fabrizio and Luca at their apartment where we would be staying ( yes all 6 of us!! ) for the weekend. It turned out that we actually didnt get to see Luca very much due to his work schedule. His schedule is different ever week and varies from morning, afternoon, and night shifts. This weekend in particular, he was scheduled to work the afternoon and two night shifts. When we got there he was already at work :(
After visiting with Fabrizio for a little bit and helping him get everything organized in the apartment for our stay, we changed and got ready for Bible study that would begin at 630 that evening.
Meredith, Enza, me, and Carmela before Bible study.
It was SO wonderful to see these faces again!!! I wont ever be able to explain the love we have for these people other than to reference verse 32 in Acts chapter 4: "All believers were one in heart and mind." Jesus makes this possible. His spirit who reigns in each of us makes this possible. Praise God for his compassion for us as human beings and His will to unite us with His P E R F E C T LOVE.
Miles, Franco, Meredith, Enza, and Lindsey
It was neat and if im totally honest, a little strange, to watch these two worlds collide! ;) Visiting our family in Taranto as the new directors of the Bible School and introducing our team was a little surreal. its mind boggling to think that just 4 years ago, we were in the shoes of our AI team, and this "Italian life" was so foreign to us. We're so thankful to have this perspective and experience, so that we can relate to the team and to help them process all of the changes taking place around them and hopefully within them.
Meredith, Eric, and Miles in the piazza Medaglie d'Oro near our old apartment.
Taranto is different than Florence or anywhere in the Tuscan region in just about every way possible-weather, accent of speaking, food, culture, architecture, and especially economically speaking.. . This was one of the main reasons why we wanted to bring the group here. We really wanted to show them the diversity of Italy and the importance to be able to STRETCH ourselves and HUMBLE ourselves in order to reach out and effectively SERVE here. Whenever we are in one place too long, the temptation will always come to seek out ways to stay comfortable. This is something we believe has the power to hinder the work in Italy, and so we are very focused on creating opportunities for the team to get out of any comfort zone they have, so that they will have an even bigger opportunity to grow.
"Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12: 23-24
Eric and Luca
After Bible study, we went to Anna Maria's house and visited with her before dinner with our friends Luca and Antonella. Anna Maria isnt pictured bc she doesnt like photos ;) It was great to see her and laugh together like old times. The team couldnt understand everything she was saying (besides Lindsey who has already been here 2 years), but even still they got a great sense of how feisty she is! :) It was refreshing cutting up together and sharing the joy of our relationship with the team members.
In Italy, the normal dinner time is around 730pm. In southern Italy, it's around 9pm. We warned the team before we went, but it was still a little bit of a shocker for them ;) Anyways, after visiting with Anna Maria, we drove into downtown Taranto with the team and Fabrizio to meet Antonella and Luca for dinner. This was really good, again just to get the team to meet new people and experience a different atmosphere. It helped that Lindsey was able to communicate but Meredith did a great job listening and understanding! ( and im sure Miles did as well, but he was sitting at the opposite end with the boys ;)
Antonella and me
If you havent read the blog up until now, ill recap by saying that Antonella was my first student and first friend when we moved to Taranto. She has been such a sweet sweet "treasure" (as we say in Italian) to me. We pray that we will continue to have opportunities to meet with her and Luca during our time here.
Eric, Luca, Anonella, and me
We climbed back into the mini van around midnight and headed back to Fabrizio and Luca's apt. Needless to say, after a full day of speaking and listening to italian, and italian in a different italian culture, we and the team were zonked! We were snoozing as soon as our heads hit the pillows!
SATURDAY
Fabrizio nella cucinia.
We let the team sleep in a little and planned to leave the apt around 9 to go and help Rosa and Felice for the afternoon. We awoke to Fabrizio making us his special café :) He also went and bought us some delicious pastries! We were sad that the team didnt really get to know Luca since he was at work the entire weekend, but we loved getting to watch them be affected by Fabrizio. Fabrizio and Luca are two people who really exemplify the love of Christ in their everyday lives. We of course know and love them and are always encouraged by their hearts, but it was a whole different type of joy to watch the team be affected by their love as well! Especially since they were experiencing it without knowing the language! As Paul writes. . . . the Love of Christ knows no bounds!!
Trulli in Cisternino.
Cisternino is a part of Puglia where you can find the famous Trulli houses. Rosa and Felice's house in Cisternino is a Trullo.
Felice and Meredith.
After getting a little bit lost on our way to Rosa's and Felice's house, we finally arrived!
Megan and Miles
Megan was happy to see us! She had already been in Puglia helping Rosa and Felice since that previous tuesday! Megan told us that the weather was unusually chilly and that it had rained on and off all that week. However, despite that, the three of them were able to clear 3 of Rosa and Felice's 5 olive fields!!
Just so you can imagine, this is half of one field!!!
Felice in his olive tree.
Harvesting olives is not for the faint of heart! it is certainly a process! first you pick/shake/rake the olives off that you can reach. After all such olives were plucked and dropped onto the netting under the olive tree, Felice would come with what I can only describe as an "electric shaker," with which we shook the rest of the olives off of the tree.
Rosa, Megan, Lindsey, Miles, and Eric.
...shaking and plucking...
Miles and Eric.
...and raking!
Lindsey.
Afterwards, we would gather all of the olives on the net and fill the bags full!
Around 1 pm Rosa fed us one of her amazing lunches!
Our favorite was the fresh "knotted" mozzarella cheese. i think i may have eaten 5 of them plus my pasta?! at least i think it was 5...I sort of lost track! haha
wonderful fellowship!
Lindsey and Felice.
After lunch we stayed a little longer to help finish up the 4th tree that we had started. We hated to leave bc there was still so much to do! Unfortunately a weekend just wasnt enough time to do everything we would have liked to do! we talked with Rosa and Felice about planning next year to bring the entire team and stay a whole week! there will certainly be enough work for everyone!!
We were so happy to have visited with Rosa and Felice and to have helped even if it was just for an afternoon! After the cold day of picking olives, we headed back to Taranto to the apt to take our showers and get ready for the evening. We were all so exhausted the night before that none of us had taken one before bed! So that meant that all 6 of us, plus Fabrizio, would need to shower! Normally the apt has 2 showers, but it just so happened that one was out of order this weekend :/ so in about an hour and a half we all took a quick shower and got ready so that we would make our 8pm dinner reservation in the next town over called Grotaglie.
The pizzera where Fabrizio and Luca made reservations was very nice! The team couldnt get over the fact that you could order a cheese pizza for 3 Euro!. . . welcome to the south :)
Fabrizio at Grotaglie.
The writing behind him says:
"Friendship is like nutella, what kind of world would it be without it?"
After dinner, we walked around Grotaglie for about 30 min waiting on our friends Mino and Dalila to arrive. Mino and Dalila are our christian friends who just got married last year. Mino is finishing up college while working as a waiter. He had worked 13 hours this saturday and then drove an hour just to come and see us! Makes me think twice about the fellowship we so readily have in the states and how easy it is to take for granted the ability we have to be together and to just be encouraged by one another. Its heartbreaking to realize that many of our brothers and sisters around the world (not just italy) dont have that opportunity.
S U N D A Y
Eric and Franco.
Sunday morning after worship, the church in Taranto organized an Agape ( a potluck).
Dolci.
Besides a couple of roasted chickens, and some french fries, we also brought. . . Dolci! :D
Meredith, Megan, and Enza, Luana, and Laura
The kids really enjoyed having the AI team there :)
Samanta.
Especially Samanta! She followed Meredith around everywhere! it was so funny bc she was talking meredith's leg off and at one point drug Meredith to her older sister Luana and commanded Luana to teach Meredith italian!
Samanta and Miles.
This picture basically sums up Samanta's personality! haha
Carmela and me.
Because we were with the team this time, we didnt get to really visit with each of the members like we normally would. However, just getting to hug them and be around them for a little while was enough to warm our hearts and remind us how grateful we are to be here in His service once again.
me, Luana, Laura, and Samanta.
One thing we couldnt get over was how much these girls have grown!! just look at them!!
Leo and Eric.
Around 4pm after we finished up the potluck and said our goodbyes, we dropped the team off on Lungo Mare ( its a place along the shore where people can take walks ) for a short break, while we went and visited our friend Cecilia and her family (she and her husband have 2 children, Leo and Georgia) for about an hour. Cecilia is a pharmacist we met while living in Taranto who became very close to us! It was great to get to see them and catch up a little.
Lindsey, Megan, Miles, Meredith, Eric, Fabrizio, and me.
After our visit with Cecilia, we picked up the team from lungo mare, picked up Fabrizio, and we all went to their mega shopping center called Ipercoop. Ipercoop is basically equivalent to a walmart located on the inside of a mall. We bought tortellinis, meats and cheeses, and some green beans to take back to the apt and cook for dinner. It was great to come back and enjoy a meal with the team and Fabrizio on our last night in Taranto.
M O N D A Y
Me, Luca, and Eric.
The next morning, Fabrizio had already left for work, but Luca finally had a day off! Hopefully the next visit we will get to see him a little more!
Megan, Lindsey, Luca, Meredith, Miles, me and Eric.
Until the next time... :)
We arrived back at the Bible School around 5pm that evening.
B U T T E R F I E L D S
Paula, Ryan, and Jodi
As I mentioned above, during our time in Taranto, the Butterfields arrived for their visit to the Bible School.
The Butterfields are licensed therapists and offered their service to conduct some team building sessions while they were here, as well as one on one meetings. They group team building sessions were very helpful in unifying the team. We were all very thankful for their willingness to use their talents to help us a team! we are looking forward to their next visit with us!
H A L L O W E E N
After our second session with the Butterfields on Friday morning (the 31st) , it was time to dig in and decorate for our Halloween party! The team did such a great job working together and getting everything done just in time for the party that evening!
American Gothic?
Eric and I went dressed up as the painting American Gothic :)
American Gothic, Grant Wood, 1930
see the resemblance? ;)
The party went SO well! We had so many delicious treats, thanks to the team :) Our decorations were black lights that we found that Avanti italia had used for VBS last summer. The only mishap was starting the party at 6pm....none of our students showed up until 8pm! oops cultural mistake #905. haha After 8pm, the turn out was a lot better; about 30 of our students came!
Giovanni and his wife.
Enjoying the photo booth! They have been coming to our Thursday night English classes at the church building and staying for Bible Study as well. They are a sweet couple who we are all enjoying getting to know!
Clizia and her friend Marcus from England, Olga, and me.
Giuseppe.
Giuseppe also has been attending our Thurs night english classes at the church building. He is one funny guy! he also is very talented with languages. He is Italian but he also speaks English, German, and Spanish!
One of our games at the Halloween party was having teams and dressing one of the teammates up as a mummy using toilet paper! The Italians really got into the game!
Can you find Eric?!
or me??
Eric in toilet paper ;)
We also set up some "mystery boxes" where they had to stick their hands in a bowl and guess what was inside the bowl.
As you can see by his face, the third bowl was really gross for them! it was the insides of a couple of pumpkins ;)
We rounded off the night with a kids movie in English called " Hotel Transylvania."
A L T R I M E N T I . . .
Minnie wrapped in her favorite blanket.
Altrimenti, or "otherwise," besides all of our activities and trips, things are going well here at the school! We have a lot going on, but it is good work. Even as I finish this post, Im thinking about this past week and the new things I will write to you about next time :) However, as we keep saying over and over, the one on one Bible studies we have with our students is the highlight of everything that we do here. please pray for us to be bold as we study with them and pray that their hearts will be opened. Thank you for your love and support. We wouldnt be able to do this without you!
xoxox
love
E&J
